Variation in flower yield and essential oil in 25 accessions of Rosa damascena Mill. in climatic conditions of Kermanshah, Iran

Damask rose (Rosa damascena Mill.) is known as “National Flower” of Iran. Determination of elite genotypes is important for achievement of high quantity of essential oils and flower yield. Twenty five Rosa damascena accessions collected from different regions of Iran were planted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in Agriculture and Natural Resources Research Center of Kermanshah، located in North West part of Iran، during 2005-2009. Essential oils were extracted and measured from their flower petals using water distillation producer. Flower yield per hectare and flower numbers per plants were also recorded. Results of analysis of variance showed a significant variation (P<0. 01) between the accessions. Significant phenotypic correlation was observed (P<0. 01) between flower yield per hectare and flower number per plant but significant correlation was not observed between essential oils quantity with both flower yield per hectare and number of flower per plant. Based on mean comparison، cluster analysis and discriminate function analysis، two elite groups of accessions were introduced for climatic conditions of Kermanshah; First group included ARAK، ESF5، GILA، KR5، KR6، KR8، KORD and YAZD accessions with the most flower yield per hectare and second group included accessions AZR-GH، ESF2، ESF4، KR4، KR7 and KR9 for the most essential oils quantity. In addition، two accessions named KR8 and KR9 were the best for both flower yield and quantity of essential oils.